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Hybrids closer than they appear

TECHNOPHOBES, fear not. Hybrid cars drive just like normal cars
- and you don't have to plug them in - but the rumble of the engine
is replaced with an eerie silence when stopped at the lights or
moving along at a crawl in stop-start traffic.

Indeed, today's hybrid cars still have a petrol engine under the
bonnet, but their power is supplemented by an electric motor.

The world's biggest-selling hybrid car, the Toyota Prius, of
which more than 1 million have been sold, and the petrol-electric
Toyota Camry, to be made in Melbourne from 2010, both use an
electric motor to move from rest, then the petrol engine kicks in
seamlessly at about 40 kmh. Moving a car from rest is when cars use
most fuel. Coasting at freeways speeds is when petrol engines are
most efficient.

A large battery hidden under the floor or in the boot powers the
radio, air-conditioning and other electric functions while the car
is stopped in traffic. The battery recharges automatically when the
car is coasting or braking.

The batteries in hybrid cars are designed to last the life of
the vehicle, said to be at least 10 years. To date, Toyota
Australia is yet to replace a hybrid battery under warranty. The
batteries are removed and recycled when the car is eventually
scrapped.

Hybrid power tends to make sense in medium-sized or large cars
because the extra weight and cost can be absorbed into the
vehicle.

Petrol-electric hatchbacks the size of a Toyota Yaris do not
make sense because the extra weight (hybrid systems add up to 200
kilograms) would blunt their efficiency, the extra cost would
diminish their appeal and the basic models are relatively
fuel-efficient anyway.

The type of cars we drive will change dramatically in five to 10
years, and hybrid vehicles are simply a stepping stone in what the
industry calls "the gradual electrification of the motor car".
Eventually, once battery technology improves to allow greater
driving ranges between recharges, the petrol engine will be gone
altogether. By 2012 there should be at least one car on sale in
Australia able to be recharged overnight. More will follow.

This will move the emissions from the tailpipe to coal-fired
power stations.

If only the energy industry could move towards solar, wind and
hydro power at the same pace the car industry is moving to electric
power, perhaps then we will truly have the green car.